Prof. John M. Reynolds, MD of RIL, gave the first presentation in the ten years’ history of the Hydropower & Dams ASIA bi-annual series of conferences and trade shows on the important subject of climate change and the impact of glacial hazards on hydropower development.

He gave a paper entitled “Managing glacial hazards for hydropower development in the Himalayas, Hindu Kush and Karakoram”, which served as a companion paper to one he published in the accompanying Special Issue of The International Journal on Hydropower & Dams (Issue 2, 2014) entitled “Assessing glacial hazards for hydropower development in the Himalayas, Hindu Kush and Karakoram”. Prof. Reynolds was also invited onto a Panel of Experts in the session “…” where he gave a further presentation entitled “Climate change and glacial hazards: implications for hydropower development in the Himalayas.”. The common theme in these presentations and papers is that climate change is increasing the risk of inundation from Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) that can cause huge damage to hydropower installations with consequential losses running into the tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars. By assessing the hazards using objective criteria and managing the consequences, it is possible for the hydropower industry to adapt to these changing conditions and to the threat of low-frequency, high impact events like GLOFs.